Car-coupling.



No. 771,942. PATENTED OCT. 11, 1904.

J. sLEPIKA.

GAR COUPLING. APPLICATION FILED JULY 11, 1904 N0 MODEL; 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED 001?. 11, 1904.

Y J. SLEPIEKA.

GAR COUPLING. APPLIGATION FILED JULY- 11, 1904 2SHEETS-SHBET 2,

H0 MODEL.

,1 J H H 1 1v HHH Patented October 11, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN SLEPICKA, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CAR-COUPLING- SPECIFIGATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 771,942, dated October 11, 1904. Application filed July 11, 1904. Serial No. 215,984. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN SLEPICKA, a sub ject of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, residing at Chicago, Cook county, Illinois, have invented certain Improvements in Car-Couplers, of which the following is aspeciiication.

This invention relates to certain improvements in car-couplers of the Janney type, and has for its object, in part, to provide a device of this character of a simple and inexpensive nature and of a strong and compact construction having improved means for retainingitin unlocked adjustment irrespective of the position in which the knuckle stands and, in part, to provide for use in couplers generally improved cushioning means whereby the coupler is better adapted for withstand ing the strains which may be placed upon it in use and for accommodating itself to the movement of the cars.

The invention consists in certain novel features of the construction, combination, and arrangement of the several parts of the improved car-coupler whereby certain important advantages are attained and the device is made simpler, cheaper, and otherwise better adapted and more convenient for use, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

The novel features of the invention will be carefully defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which serve to illustrate my invention, Figure l is a plan view of a pair of couplers interlocked with each other and constructed according .to my invention. Fig. 2 is aside elevation of one of the couplers. Fig. 3 is aview similar to Fig. 1, but showing the couplers detached and one of them in unlocked position. Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view taken through one of the couplers in the plane indicated by line a a in Fig. 2, the knuckle being shown in locked position. Fig. 5 is atransverse section taken vertically through one of the couplers in the plane indicated by line 6 b in Fig. 4, the knuckle being shown in rear elevation and in locked position. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, but showing the locking-pin raised for illustrating the means for automatically retaining said pin in raised position. Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, but showing the knuckle adjusted to open position; and Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view showing details of the pivotal connection between the coupler-head and stem.

In theviews, 1 indicates the head of the coupler, the rear part of which is constructed with upper and lower perforated lugs or bearing portions 2 2 of rounded form, between which is a space central of the head and adapted to receive a rounded lug or portion 3, produced on the stem or shank portion 4 of the coupler, the lugs or bearings portions 2 and 3 being pivotally connected by means of a pin 5, extended down through the perforation's of said parts, so that the head 1 is capable of a certain extent of lateral play relatively to the draw-bar with which it is connected.

The rounded lugs 2 2 at top and bottom of -the head 1 are provided with rearwardlyextended projections 6, integral upon their rounded rear faces and adapted for engagement when the parts are assembled, as shown in the sectional view Fig. 4, in chambers 7, produced above and below the bearing lug or portion 3 of the coupler stem or bar 4, said chambers 7 being produced in a thickened or enlarged portion 8, integrally formed on the stem 4 and serving to receive resilient cushions 9, whereon the projections 6 are engaged and which are preferably formed, as herein shown, of india-rubber or similar elastic compressible material and are held in position in the chambers 7 by means of upper and lower plates or covers 10, detachably held to the thickened or enlarged portion 8 of the coupler-stem by means of screws or the like, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. By this arrangement of the elastic or resilient cushions engaged by projections on the pivoted head 1 it will be seen that a certain extent of lateral swinging movement of the head is afforded relatively to the stem or bar of the coupler, so that the device is permitted to withstand strains to which it may be exposed without danger of breakage and also to accommodate itself to the various relative movements of the coupled cars, so as to avoid all liability of accidental disengagement of the knuckles. I arrange the projections 6 of each head so as to stand in the assembled structure at one end of the chambers 7 7, so as to engage on the ends of the cushions 9 therein. In this way each head 1 is cushioned for lateral. movement in one direction only; but since the arrangement of the coupling devices of each interlocking pair is necessarily reversed it will be seen that the cushioned movement is in opposite directions by the construction described.

11 indicates the knuckle at the forward end of each head 1, said knuckle being mounted for pivotal swinging movement upon a pin 12 in the ordinary way and having a rearwardlydirected locking-lug 13, provided with a lateral car 14:, adapted when the coupler is'in open adjustment, as shown in Fig. 3, to stand in position to be engaged by the knuckle of the interlocking coupler, by which engagement the knuckle 11 is swung pivotally into locking position. The rear face of the locking-lug 13 of knuckle 11 is provided with a vertically-extended notch or groove 15, which in the locking position of the parts is designed to stand in alinement with a locking-pin 16, held for vertical movement in the head 1 in the usual way and connected, by means of a link 17, with one arm 18 of a cross-bar 19, pivotally held on the end of the car, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, and provided with a downwardly-extended crank 20, whereby it may be moved pivotally for lifting the pin 16 and unlocking the knuckle of the coupler.

At one side of the notch or groove at the rear face of the locking-lug 13 of the knuckle is provided a shelf or support 21, adapted when the locking-pin is raised and the knuckle is swung pivotally into opened position to stand in position to receive upon it, as shown in Fig. 7, the lower end of the locking-pin 16, whereby said pin is held in raised position until such time as the knuckle shall in the coupling operation be reversely swung to bring the notch or groove 15 into alinement with said lower end of the locking-pin, so that the pin may fall to the position shown in Fig. 5 and by its engagement in the groove or notch 15 of the locking-lug lock the knuckle in closed position.

At the side of the locking notch or groove 15 opposite to the shelf 21 there is pivoted upon the rear face of the locking-lug 13 of the knuckle a dog or latch 22, the upper end 23 of which is arranged above the shelf or support 21 and is adapted when the lockingpin is raised and has its lower end disengaged from the groove or notch 15 in the lockinglug of the knuckle to fall or move pivotally by gravitation, so as to enter the groove or notch 15 and stand below and in the path of said locking-pin, so that the lower end of said pin will impinge upon said free end of the dog or latch, as shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings, whereby the locking-pin is held securely in raised position and is prevented from falling or dropping into the locking groove or channel 15 of the knuckle until the next coupling operation and without requiring any manipulation of the knuckle on the part of the trainman.

By this construction the trainman by swinging the bar 19 in the ordinary way lifts the locking-pin 16, so as to disengage it from knuckle 11, whereupon the dog 22 will be antomatically engaged beneath the pin to hold it in raised position without requiring any manipulation of the knuckle for bringing the locking groove or notch out of alinement with said pin. When the knuckle is swung into opened position, it will be seen that the dog 22 by its engagement under the locking-pin 16 will hold said pin from dropping by gravitation until such time as the locking groove or notch 15 shall have passed out of alinement with the locking-pin, and when this shall have been accomplished the locking-pin will slip from the upper end 23 of the dog or latch and will drop by gravity upon the shelf or support 21 at the opposite side of thelocking groove or notch 15', as shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings. In the coupling operation as the knuckle is swung into closed or looking position it will be evident that the shelf or support 21 will be moved laterally beneath the lower end of the locking pin until said pin comes into engagement with the end portion 23 of the pivoted dog, which portion 23 extends into the locking groove or notch 15, whereupon said dog 22 will be swung pivotally out of alinement with said groove or channel 15 to permit the locking-pin to drop into the groove or channel and hold the knuckle in locked position.

From the above description it will be seen I that the improved oar-coupler is of an extremely simple and inexpensive nature and is especially well adapted for use since its construction is such as to greatly facilitate the couplingoperationwithout requiringthe trainmen to step between the cars, and it will also be obvious from the above description that the device is capable of some modification without material departure from the principles and spirit of the invention, and for this reason I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise form and arrangement of the several parts of the device herein set forth in carrying out my invention in practice.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A car-coupler comprising a head, a knuckle pivotally held thereon, a locking-pin mov= able in and out of engagement with the knuckle for locking the same in closed position and a device pivotally held on the knuckle with its extremity adapted for engagement with the locking-pin when the same is raised and adapted, when engaged therewith, to hold said locking-pin in elevated position.

2. A car-coupler comprising a head, a knuckle pivotally held thereon and having a locking-lug provided with a locking-notch to receive the locking-pin and with a shelf at one side of said notch and a device carried on the knuckle at the opposite side of the lockingnotch and movable into engagement with the locking-pin when the same is raised and adapted, when engaged therewith, to hold said locking-pin in elevated position.

3. A car-coupler comprising a head, a knuckle pivotally held thereon and having alocking-lug provided with a notch to receive a locking-pin and with a support at one side of said notch, a locking-pin carried on the head 5 and adapted to be raised and lowered for engagement in the notch of the locking-lug and a pivoted device held on the locking-lug at the side of the notch opposite said support with its upper end movable in and out of 20 JOHN sLEPIoKA. Witnesses:

CHAS. C. TILLMAN, A. GUSTAFSON. 

